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Kazakhstan Tour: Explore Charyn Canyon Wonders
4.6
218 Ratings
Almaty
Explore Kazakhstan’s Charyn Canyon, Kolsai, and Kaindy Lakes. Discover grand cliffs, crystal waters, and lush meadows. Perfect spring adventure!
Explore Kazakhstan’s Charyn Canyon, Kolsai, and Kaindy Lakes. Discover grand cliffs, crystal waters, and lush meadows. Perfect spring adventure!
Duration:
17 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Kolsai Lake - This is a lake of amazing beauty, surrounded by mountains and pine forests. If you wish, you can take a boat or catamaran ride around the lake. There is also a cafe where you can have lunch. The menu includes pilaf, lagman, manti, shish kebab, and salads.
- Қайынды - The water here, due to its purity, is almost invisible, and the…
- Kolsai Lake - This is a lake of amazing beauty, surrounded by mountains and pine forests. If you wish, you can take a boat or catamaran ride around the lake. There is also a cafe where you can have lunch. The menu includes pilaf, lagman, manti, shish kebab, and salads.
- Қайынды - The water here, due to its purity, is almost invisible, and the surrounding landscape with mountains and green meadows will complement the charm of this place. We will travel to the lake from the village in UAZ vehicles and, at your request, on horses with experienced escorts.
- Charyn Canyon - Charyn Canyon is one of the most impressive natural attractions in Kazakhstan. You will admire its grandiose cliffs, gorges and bright red formations created by nature millions of years ago. In addition to the Valley of Castles, you will enjoy such locations as: the Charyn River, the Black and Moon Canyon.
What's Included
- Waterproof shoe covers for your shoes (in case of rain or mud on location)
- Entrance ticket to Charyn Canyon National Park
- Entrance ticket to Kaindy National Park
- Professional guide
- Entrance ticket to Kolsay National Park
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Photo for memory
- Waterproof shoe covers for your shoes (in case of rain or mud on location)
- Entrance ticket to Charyn Canyon National Park
- Entrance ticket to Kaindy National Park
- Professional guide
- Entrance ticket to Kolsay National Park
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Photo for memory
What's Not Included
- Lunch
- Horse riding to get further to Lake Kaiyndy (round trip) KZT 7000 per person
- UAZ which covers a distance of 12 km upon arrival in the village of Saty to Lake Kaiyndy
- Lunch
- Horse riding to get further to Lake Kaiyndy (round trip) KZT 7000 per person
- UAZ which covers a distance of 12 km upon arrival in the village of Saty to Lake Kaiyndy
Additional Information
Our Advantages
• The company boasts its own fleet of vehicles, each equipped with USB and TYPE-C chargers at every seat.
• During the summer season, every tourist receives a complimentary neck fan with cool air, ensuring comfort and refreshment in hot weather throughout the tour.
• In the winter season, tourists are provided with complimentary warm…
Our Advantages
• The company boasts its own fleet of vehicles, each equipped with USB and TYPE-C chargers at every seat.
• During the summer season, every tourist receives a complimentary neck fan with cool air, ensuring comfort and refreshment in hot weather throughout the tour.
• In the winter season, tourists are provided with complimentary warm touch gloves and a cozy blanket, with the option to purchase extra warm socks for an additional fee.
• Our guides are informative, experienced, energetic, and cheerful, possessing an in-depth knowledge of their country’s history.
• We offer the most competitive prices for a variety of tours and excursions in Kazakhstan.
Enrich your spring with vibrant adventures! Join us on a journey through the stunning natural landscapes of Kazakhstan. Marvel at the majestic cliffs of the Charyn Canyon and witness the lunar-like terrain on Earth. Delight in the crystal-clear lake waters and lush green meadows.
- We recommend taking cash in the amount of 5.000-10.000 tenge per person for pocket money
Location
Zyliha Hotel
Baytursynova Street
We will be waiting for you at Baitursynov 104 with a van with Panda stickers.
Opposite the Astana International Hotel (large bus stop). There will be a Barbero hairdresser near the bus stop.
Bus will be waiting from 04.30 a.m. until 05.00 a.m. ❗️
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.6
(218 Ratings)
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X356zfjosephp
Apr 25, 2026
Excellent tour and tour guide - Our tour through Kazakhstan’s canyons and lakes was an unforgettable experience, made even more special by our amazing tour guide. The landscapes were absolutely breathtaking, from the dramatic canyon views to the crystal-clear lakes, but what truly stood out was our guide’s presence throughout the journey — he was incredibly helpful, always attentive to everyone’s needs, and made sure everything ran smoothly. On top of that, Adam was genuinely friendly and easy to talk to, creating a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere for the whole group. His knowledge, warmth, and overall attitude elevated the entire trip, turning a beautiful tour into something truly memorable that I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Kazakhstan.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
F7282dyjack
Apr 25, 2026
Awesome sights. Smooth operator. - Absolutely brilliant. I've been on many tours and this one really stood out. Charyn Canyon, Kolsai lake and Kaindy lake are each stunningly dramatic. Our guide Adam made it even better. Very friendly, clear and organised even sorting out a transport issue in 15 minutes. I'll probably remember his singing repertoire the most however. Book this tour today.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
979siennak
Apr 23, 2026
Amalty Adventure - What a fun trip! Adam was an awesome guide with tons of energy and the drivers had our safety at first priority. Would do this trip again in a heart beat!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Agustinep2026
Apr 16, 2026
Happy - Adam, you’re a LEGEND! The one day tour with Panda Tour on April 11, 2026 was such a blast. Thank you so much for patiently and responsibly guiding all of us guests from different countries — you even handled 3 cars by yourself and still made everything run so smoothly. You can really see how responsible Adam is with his customers.
The rain was totally force majeure, but you kept it 100% under control.
Funny story — the three of us were the last ones down from Lake Kaindy and missed our ride up, but we felt safe because YOU were right behind us and took responsibility for us all the way to the meeting point. That meant a lot 🙏
Greetings from Indonesia. We'll be waiting for you to visit Indonesia. Adam jaya jaya jaya! 🔥🔥🔥 Next time we’re 100% requesting you again haha!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Abdukhamid
Apr 13, 2026
Rakhmet Adam from best day 💪🏻 - Go for Adam. He can replace 3 guides alone. Adam is crazy professional doing it alone for 3 busses. Charyn, Kolsai and Kaindy lakes are wonderful. Request exactly him (Adam) 🤙🏻
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Abigail_b
Apr 12, 2026
Karina was the best tour guide! - Karina was an amazing tour guide. She is very energetic, friendly, and easy to talk to. She made sure everyone felt included and comfortable throughout the trip. She kept the group engaged, helped us take nice photos, and always reminded us of the timings so everything ran smoothly.
She also shared helpful tips on what to do in Almaty, including food, places to visit, and other tours to try with Panda Tours. Her recommendations were very useful and made our trip even better.
Karina is very organised, caring, and attentive. She always checked on us and made sure everyone was enjoying. You can really see that she loves what she does.
I would definitely join this tour again, and I hope to have Karina as our guide next time. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Viator
Freedom65941314639
Apr 11, 2026
Great experience - We had a wonderful day trip to Kaindy & Kolsai Lakes with Panda Travels. The experience was smooth and well-organized, and having a private vehicle made the journey very comfortable and flexible.
A big thank you to our guides, Adam and Noor, who were friendly, knowledgeable, and made the trip even more enjoyable with their insights. Special mention to our driver Noor as well, who ensured a safe and pleasant ride throughout.
Overall, a very positive experience—highly recommended for anyone planning to visit these beautiful lakes!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
767klauso
Apr 3, 2026
For the Almaty bucket list ! - Perfect day trip from Almaty including lakes and canyons, even horse riding option. Reservation and payment easy to be done. I enjoyed sharing the trip with travellers from many countries. Adam was the guide one would like to have, giving very good explanations and managing well the tight timeframe. Cheers to him and the driver who drove us safely and quickly for so many hours.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Victor
Apr 24, 2026
Great trip - Very nice trip overall. However, we came back very late (0:30)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Karens_m
May 7, 2026
Badly organized tour, bait and switch with downgrade to standard large bus tour despite paying for small bus VIP tour - The worst organized tour we have ever taken. We booked over 3 months before for a VIP tour in a mercedez bus that offers only 16 seat, so a small group. Upon arriving we were forced to take the large bus standard tour with 40-50 customers despite our ticket clearly showing “VIP tour” which costed $48 vs standard tour costing $39 per person as of this writing. According to the guide, they had a change in package after we booked, hence the ‘downgrade’, but that’s no excuse, they should have informed us and gave us option.
No reply from the head office when I tried contacting them via WA and Viator messaging system, the guide told us head office gave us two choices after being in the bus for 5 hours: accept the tour as it was or wait for a car to take us back to Almaty city if we want a refund, not really a choice since we would have wasted a whole precious day and we can’t even trust this company to follow through with the transport while waiting in the middle of nowhere.
The big tour group we were forced to take was chaotic. With large no of participants it was hard to ensure everyone adhere to returning time to bus, and in one spot we had to wait over 30 min over the agreed departure time as some people did not care.
The small bus group guide told us that we would be back in the city at 8:30-9 pm; with the big bus we arrived back at 11 pm.
The bus air conditioning system was not stable, cool air did not really get delivered to the middle part of the bus and at one point my iphone got so overheated that I could not charge it.
While the difference in price in absolute amount is not big for us, the difference in the overall experience between small and big group, and the company’s insincere attitude when dealing with irregularities are really what bothered us.
Review provided by Viator
